Abnormal neutrophil myeloperoxidase from a patient with chronic myelocytic leukemia

Neutrophil myeloperoxidase from a patient with chronic myelocytic leukemia was isolated under conditions designed to minimize proteolysis. Those methods yielded an α₂β₂ form of myeloperoxidase from normal individuals. Purified enzyme from the patient had electronic absorbances ($\text{A}{}_{430}\text{A}{}_{280}\text{= 0.85}$), enzymatic activity, and electrophoretic and Chromatographic behavior indistinguishable from that of normal myeloperoxidase. Edman degradation and physical studies after reduction and denaturation, however, showed that as compared to normal enzyme, one 55,000-dalton α subunit of the patient's myeloperoxidase was replaced by a 39,000-dalton peptide with a different amino-terminal sequence, a mixture of smaller peptides, and an heme derivative. Myeloperoxidase from the leukemic neutrophils appeared to have been partially degraded in vivo by lysosomal proteases.     

Sterile Culture of Rotylenchulus reniformis on Tomato Root with Gellan Gum as a Supporting Medium

Rotylenchulus reniformis was repeatedly propagated in sterile excised tomato roots growing on modified White''s medium with gellan gum as the support. Gellan gum provided an optically clear support medium that could be liquified by adding 5 mM disodium ethylenediaminetetraacetate (EDTA) to facilitate nematode extraction. Liquefaction of the gellan-gum medium by EDTA allowed efficient recovery of eggs and vermiform stages of R. reniformis. Extraction efficiency was quantified with Radopholus similis as a test organism. The efficiency of extracting R. similis from the gellan gum did not vary with the concentrations of EDTA tested.     

Making our diabetes patients' office visits more productive

Improving our health care procedures is ideally a collaborative and ongoing process, yet it takes time we may not feel we can easily afford. If we can consider how we might make even one change to improve our procedures, we might also be able to help improve not only the capabilities and skills of each member of our health care teams but also the ability of our patients to engage in effective diabetes self-care.     

The carboxypropeptide trimer of type II collagen is a prominent component of immature cartilages and intervertebral-disc tissue

Immature bovine cartilages and intervertebral-disc tissue all revealed a prominent protein, not present in the adult tissues, in non-denaturing extracts made with chondroitin ABC lyase (EC 4.2.2.4), Streptomyces hyaluronidase (EC 4.2.2.1) or 1 M NaCl. The protein ran on SDS-polyacrylamide electrophoresis, before disulphide reduction, as a close doublet of bands of apparent molecular weight 110,000 and 105,000. After reduction, they dissociated respectively into two protein bands at 37,000 and 35,000, indicating that the initial molecules were disulphide-bonded trimers. Amino-terminal sequence analysis established the identity of both proteins (Mr 110,000 and Mr 105,000) as forms of the carboxypropeptide of type II collagen. The larger molecule appeared to be the trimer of intact alpha 1(II) carboxypropeptides and the smaller, a version composed of chains that were ten residues shorter at their amino-terminal ends. The material appears to be identical to chondrocalcin, a protein previously found to be enriched in fetal growth plate and named on the basis that it may play a role in cartilage calcification. The present findings, however, indicate that the protein is equally abundant in all type II collagen-synthesizing young cartilages, including nucleus pulposus of the intervertebral disc and other cartilages that never calcify.     

A Clinical Trial to Evaluate the Efficacy of α-Viniferin in Staphylococcus aureus – Specific Decolonization without Depleting the Normal Microbiota of Nares

Staphylococcus aureus is currently a significant multidrug-resistant bacterium, causing severe healthcare-associated and community-acquired infections worldwide. The current antibiotic regimen against this pathogen is becoming ineffective due to resistance, in addition, they disrupt the normal microbiota. It highlights the urgent need for a pathogen-specific drug with high antibacterial efficacy against S. aureus. α-Viniferin, a bioactive phytochemical compound, has been reported to have excellent anti-Staphylococcus efficacy as a topical agent. However, so far, there were no clinical trials that have been conducted to elucidate its efficacy. The present study aimed to investigate the antibacterial efficacy of α-viniferin against S. aureus in a ten-day clinical trial. Based on the results, α-viniferin showed 50% minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC₅₀ values) of 7.8 μg/ml in culture broth medium. α-Viniferin was administered in the nares three times a day for ten days using a sterile cotton swab stick. Nasal swab specimens were collected before (0 days) and after finishing the trial (10^th day), and then analyzed. In the culture and RT-PCR-based analysis, S. ureus was reduced significantly: 0.01. In addition, 16S ribosomal RNA-based amplicon sequencing analysis showed that S. aureus reduced from 51.03% to 23.99% at the genus level. RNA-seq analysis was also done to gain insights into molecular mechanisms of α-viniferin against S. aureus, which revealed that some gene groups were reduced in 5-fold FC cutoff at two times MIC conditions. The study results demonstrate α-viniferin as a potential S. aureus-specific drug candidate.